opera-a-thon

[thoreau]

THREE AND A HALF HOURS of opera tonight. Being in the Baroque period - they sang everything twice. EVERYTHING. Michael turned to me at one point and whispered "I think they are going to repeat whole first act again! shit!" The music was absolutely beautiful and Handel was imaginatively staged.... but man - by the third act - it was comical to hear this beautiful aria - just for the stage blocking and music to reset and do it all again. This is really hard music too... The leads were PHENOMENAL - the tenor was one of the clearest voices I've heard at SF Opera. Lyrical crying - boasting - mourning - - - Handel's music communicated clearly a astounding range of emotions. I was stunned - and am pretty overwhelmed and tired. :) so goodnight!

Comments

[pagerbear.livejournal.com]

Keep in mind that, in Mr. Händel's time, people didn't sit politely in the audience for the entire opera. They arrived late, came and went as they pleased, received guests in their boxes (shut up!), and in fact might not have paid much attention to the opera itself at all. It was a social event, and the opera was secondary. Yes, of course there were people who were there to hear the opera itself, but the structure and timing of the event was for the benefit of the aristocracy and the social event they made of it.

Nowadays judicious cuts are always advised. The problem is, which treasure of an aria or ensemble to cut?

[pagerbear.livejournal.com]

Oh, and the whole repeat thing? Dramatically, it's usually like this:

A -- Declaration of something that's on my mind
B -- Internal discussion of something that intensifies or clarifies A
A -- You know what I said before? All these ornaments I'm adding to the vocal line mean I feel it much more intensely now.

Thing is, it gets to be a bit much time and time again. Later composers varied forms, among other things, a little bit more.

[low-fat-muffin.livejournal.com]

it started to feel like an athletic musical journey more than a cohesive story - the staging literally would reset and they'd sing it again... it was tough. but - Handel's music is amazing. so 80% of the time you really didn't mind.

[bruinwi.livejournal.com]

This really speaks to the endurance of the singers.

A reprise of the chorus is one thing; re-running the entire song...every song... is like running back-to-back marathons.

[low-fat-muffin.livejournal.com]

it really was an endurance race. Two or three arias really stood out - but sometimes you could almost see the cast run out of movement or choreography... in the reconciliation theme in the 3rd Act - the lead (Ariodante) looked like she'd been shown a single way to do that royal male hug thing. She would walk across the stage - sing a little - then prance back towards the other actors... and then the music woudl reset and she'd do it again. It was really distracting.

[nudewoody.livejournal.com]

I was there for Ariodante as well! I thought it was an absolute jewel!Of course, Susan Graham and Ruth Ann Swenson were stunning! I thought Cangemi (Dalinda) had to few strong moments and Prina (Polinesso) was just downright underpowered.

Costuming was sumptuous, loved the shimmering technicolor fabrics. The sets were great, but I got a little tired of all the po mo insertion of greek ruins by the end.

[low-fat-muffin.livejournal.com]

I adored it - Ruth Ann Swenson has the most amazing voice! her weaping aria thinking she was betrayed was some of the most beautiful opera I've ever heard.

[starzinked.livejournal.com]

sounds F-A-B-U-L-O-U-S

[low-fat-muffin.livejournal.com]

SF Opera is always fabulous actually - even if it does repeat itself when it's bar-o-que. :)

[starzinked.livejournal.com]

i think the last one i saw at SF Opera was Il trovatore
very tuneful